iPhone/iPod

iPad

Mac OS X

Android

BlackBerry

Despite rumors to the contrary, it would seem that Apple’s newest iPhone and iPad are right on schedule to hit their anticipated release dates, whenever that may be. The rumblings concerning delays cropped up this morning when Bloomberg reported that manufacturing issues at Hon Hai Precision would force Apple to push back the anticipated Spring launch of the iPad 2. The questions raised about the iPhone’s availability sprung from a report by FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger, who claimed that the phones hadn’t even gone into mass production, and that a Fall launch was more likely.

The fallout of these rumors was so severe that Apple stock actually briefly fell today based on sheer speculation that the iPad had been pushed back. Fortunately for everyone a source close to Apple has said that the allegations are “simply not true,” and that both machines are right on track to get their scheduled updates this year. It’s a good thing too, as the recent medical leave taken by Steve Jobs, coupled with a potential delay in two major products would have been a heavy one-two blow for the hardware manufacturer.

Of course, the real question here is what made these rumors take off in the first place. First off, neither the iPad nor the iPhone even have official release dates at this point, as we all are merely speculating that they’ll be arriving soon. Apple is notoriously silent about the launches of their products in advance of the actual event, so it’s not even like the company is missing any sort of deadline. Furthermore, analysts are basically the digital age’s version of fortunetellers, only instead of peering into crystal balls and pretending to conjure up spirits they instead pore over spreadsheets and financial projections and basically make educated guesses about the industry they cover. It’s a lot like visiting the Oracle at Delphi only instead of sacrificing an animal and praying to the gods you have to hand over $100,000 and pray your check clears.

So if you saw the stories this morning and panicked you can now take a deep breath and relax. When your iPhone contract expires in June there will likely be a brand new version of the phone waiting for you, and everyone looking forward to an iPad with cameras and other fun new features probably won’t have to wait long. Repeat after me, “Everything is fine in the world of Apple.”